Welcome to Nowhere Town
by This One Writer
Summary: If you think that life as a mayor isn't thrilling enough, Dan can tell you firsthand that being a runaway, criminal, and mayor is much more exciting. He ends up in a town somewhat similar to his, but it has a peculiar name and a strange girl as its mayor. But perhaps Dan and the girl can learn from each other...if he can keep his little criminal secret to himself that is.
1. Chapter 1: A New Adventure

**So** **I've written fics for Dragon Ball Z, but after recently playing New Leaf again, I thought I'd try something different! :) I hope you enjoy!**

 **(I can't draw, so PM me if you'd be willing to create a cover for this story! I'll give you creds! :D)**

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Chapter 1: A New Adventure

One good thing about living in a town full of animals is that the law enforcement is awful. The police station never even seemed to deal with criminals, so they were very much out of practice when I decided to, uh, break the law. Although I highly doubt that they expected their very own mayor to do so...

Whatever.

I looked behind me as I was running toward the train station. Someone was definitely running after me! Who was it? I couldn't tell. Was it an ordinary citizen? Was it Copper, the town's cop? _Most likely._ Was it Isabelle?!

 _Poor Isabelle..._ She'll have to clean up the mess that I left behind and get the town up and running normally again. Oh well! It's no lie that I've taken many...long breaks before, and she did fine then, so I'm sure she'll handle it perfectly well!

I looked back again. I had greater problems than worrying about some dog. Although it appeared that I was gaining some distance on whoever was chasing after me, I wasn't comforted all that much. I needed to get away. Entirely away.

What did they even do to criminals here?! The town's so peaceful, I've never even considered it. Do they even have a jail? It's so strange, the things that you suddenly begin to consider once you become a wanted criminal.

 _The train station!_ I finally made it to my destination and charged in shouting, "A train! I need a ride on that train immediately!" Luckily, the station already had a train waiting there when I ran in.

"Sir, um we-"

"Just get me on that train!"

"But-"

"NOW!" I shouted loudly. I looked back once more, but I couldn't see whoever was chasing me from inside the train station. I had absolutely no idea how close they were to me. All I knew was that I needed to leave immediately.

The monkey eyed me suspiciously. "Do you even know where you're going, Mr. Mayor?"

I didn't want to have to do this. I whipped out a gun from inside my coat and pointed it at the poor guy. "Does it matter?! I have a gun pointed at you now! I suggest that you let me on to that train!"

It's safe to say that the monkey-man was not expecting me to point a gun at him, and he froze temporarily. "Eek! Where did you even get that gun?!" he managed to ask.

I didn't have time to answer. I didn't have time to think. When I looked behind me this time, I definitely could make out someone's silhouette approaching the station. Thinking quickly, I jumped over the railing and ran to the conveniently parked train.

"Hey!" a different male voice shouted. "Get back here!"

 _Bang!_ I fired the gun behind me before slamming my fists loudly against the train's doors. Although I knew that the bullet didn't hit him, I hoped that it startled him at the very least. Whoever was chasing me then started yelling unintelligible things and his voice was getting closer, so I continued banging away on the train's doors.

 _CREEAAKKK!_ They finally swung open, and I hopped right in. The conductor looked at me funnily. "Do you have a ticket?"

"I have a gun! Do I need a ticket?"

That got his attention. "Where are you going?"

"Doesn't matter!" I shouted frantically. "Shut the doors and go! And do not let the other guy on!" I pointed my gun in the conductor's direction in case he needed some more...motivation.

I looked out a window and saw that it was Copper who was chasing me. I doubt that he was expecting to actually do any crime-stopping today, if ever. He was running up to the train very quickly, and it was actually making me very nervous. I didn't want to go to dog-jail or whatever they we're going to do with me.

"HURRY!" I shouted. "The dog's almost here!"

"I'm going!" the conductor yelled back. "It takes a little bit of time, ya' know!"

 _Uh-oh._ Copper had made it to the train, but thankfully the doors were closed now. He began banging on them, screaming, "Open up! Immediately!"

The conductor pulled some switches. "Well, even if I wanted to, at this point it's too late." A sudden jerk-like movement caused the train to move forward. "We are on our way."

As the train slowly chugged along, the dog became smaller and smaller until he was just a dot. Then he was gone entirely out of my view. Although I couldn't see or hear him anymore, I imagined that he was very angry at the moment. He was probably shouting curses and the like in my direction.

"Running from the law, eh kid?" the conductor asked me.

I didn't feel like explaining myself. "More or less."

He seemed to catch on to the fact that I didn't feel like talking, and since I had a gun, I suspect that he felt no need to push the subject any further either. "I still don't know where you want to be dropped off."

"Somewhere," I answered. "Anywhere." I leaned up against the wall of the train and sighed. "Nowhere."

"Nowhere?" he asked with a strange expression on his face. "Well, I can make that happen."

I finally slid down into a seat. "Yeah, sure. It doesn't matter that much to me. I just needed to make a quick getaway."

"I noticed." He didn't say anything further. He didn't question me anymore. I appreciated our little relationship.

I finally pulled off my long trench coat. It was way too warm for the thing, and the clothes underneath felt so casual that I almost wanted to laugh. I had on grey sweatpants, black boots, and some green t-shirt. Like I said, casual.

There was no mirror anywhere nearby on the train, and I didn't have one with me, but I figured that I probably looked slightly insane. My attention turned to the window, where I could see a faint reflection of myself. The main things that stuck out were the unruliness of my light brown hair and the scratches and dirt from earlier all over my face.

Yep. I looked slightly insane.

My eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and I let out a yawn. It was sometime after midnight, and today's events left me exhausted. A short little nap would be okay, right? It's not like I had anything better to do. I only had the clothes on my back, that gun, exactly 2,467 bells, and a peach in my pockets. So with nothing better to do, a nap (or really a night's sleep) sounded great.

...

"Sir!" a loud shout from the conductor startled me awake. "It's your stop!"

"I don't have a stop..." I muttered sleepily.

He didn't seem to want to deal with it. "Well, you do now. I'm afraid I've taken you far enough. You need to get off."

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "Okay..." I shoved my gun in my pockets and waltzed over to the conductor. I gave him 100 bells to compensate for all of the trouble I caused him.

"Your coat!" he reminded me as I started to step off.

I waved it off. "Keep it! I don't want or need it!"

"One more thing, kid," he said. "Welcome to Nowhere Town."

The words were ominous and the sudden loud crash of thunder and lighting strike seemed like much more than a coincidence. I stepped off of the train and into the rain. It was coming down pretty hard and with just a few paces, I was quickly soaked. And because I was on the run, I didn't even think to bring an umbrella. How was I supposed to know it was going to rain in this random town?

A shiver went down my spine and filled my body with chills. I quickly tried to take in my surroundings to find somewhere that might provide some sort of shelter, but it was hard to tell what was what through the thick sheets of rain that were falling from the sky.

I trudged along, roaming through the downpour when I saw an oddly familiar-looking building. Running quickly, I made my way into what appeared to be the Town Hall. It looked exactly like the Town Hall in the town that I was from. I suddenly began to doubt that the train conductor even brought me to a different place.

When I entered the building, I was soaking wet and shaking like a dog. The cool air was freezing to my skin! So I stiffly tried to walk over to the counter to see if I could get some assistance, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw who was in front of me.

"Isabelle?"

"That is my name," she answered cheerily. "Are you new or just visiting?"

"Uhh..." I was at a loss for words. This looked exactly like my Town Hall, even down to the point of Isabelle working there! There was no way the conductor brought me to a new town! No way! Yet Isabelle didn't seem to recognize me...

She beckoned me closer, so I moved toward her. "Here's a map of the town. Whether you're new or just visiting, it should be of some assistance."

"I'm just visiting," I finally managed to answer.

I looked at the map that she handed me. The town appeared to have many of the same shops and areas that mine did, yet it was structured completely different. There could be no way that this was the same place! Yet when I looked up from my map, I was staring directly at Isabelle who assisted me in my town where I was the mayor.

"In the town that I come from, there was also a dog named Isabelle," I told her.

She nodded quickly. "Of course! You must be talking about one of my sisters or cousins."

"And you all have the same name?"

"It's tradition."

Oh. Okay.

"Thanks for the map," I told Isabelle as I examined it some more. Specifically, I was looking for a campsite that I might be able to stay at. When I couldn't find one, I asked her about it.

She pulled out a list of papers. "Currently, a campsite is not one of the projects requested by the people in this town. Although you are not a citizen, I think I can still add your request to the list."

"Um, yeah," I said, still trying to find a place to stay on the map. "What time is it?"

"It is just after four in the morning," she said with a smile. Her smile, I noticed, was full of fatigue. I suddenly began to feel a little guilty about leaving my Isabelle on her own.

I still needed a place where I could stay temporarily. When I asked her for suggestions, she simply answered that I could see if one of the animals in the town has room to spare. I couldn't help but let out a groan. If I stayed with an animal, they'd probably get me covered in fleas...

I thanked her anyway and began to walk out into the rain again when she stopped me to ask, "What's your name?"

 _My name..._ I wasn't too sure about how the word about crimes spread from town to town, but just to be safe, I didn't give my real first name. I am a good liar, so I used my middle name instead and made it sound as believable as possible.

"Daniel," I told her. "But I just go by Dan."

"Alright Dan," she said with her usual perkiness. "I know that you're just visiting, but we'd love to have you move in!"

"I'll...think about it," was the response I gave.

I put on my brave face and walked back out into the stormy weather. Thunder still rumbled in the distance and lightning lit up the sky. I really needed to find a place to stay. I pulled out my map, but I didn't recognize any of the names of the animals. How was I expected to make a friend _and_ crash with them for a bit? Especially at four in the morning!

It seemed like a lost cause. I looked as if I had just survived the zombie apocalypse and highly doubted that anyone would want to house my dirty, smelly, wet self anyway. I sighed and found a tree nearby that seemed to offer a decent amount of coverage from the rain. It would have to do for now. I didn't want to have to walk around anymore than I needed to.

So I leaned my back against the tree and tried to get as comfortable as possible. It wasn't comfortable at all, but I was exhausted and needed somewhere to rest. In a few hours the shops should all be opened again, and I could change my clothing and even buy an umbrella if the storm still hasn't cleared up.

What could I do until then? _Sleep_. It wasn't comfortable, like I said earlier, but when you're as tired as I was, comfort hardly seemed to matter. It had been a long day/night...

...

 _KABOOM!_ The loud crack of thunder startled me awake. I wondered how much I had slept. The rain was still coming down pretty hard and the thunder and lightning seemed to only be worsening. I sat up entirely from where I was sleeping and frowned. Maybe I should've at least _tried_ to crash with an animal...

Speaking of crash, another thunderclap sounded through the air at the same time a strike of lightning hit scarily close. I stood up and waited to see how close the next one would be. The loudest clap of thunder that I had ever heard and the brightest flash of light I had ever seen filled the air around me. My body tingled as if I was full of electricity.

Then a strange _snap_ followed by a creaking noise came from behind me. It wasn't thunder...so what was it? I looked back and saw that the tree that I was resting under was falling right toward me. I was nearly frozen in terror, but I slid my feet back in just enough time to avoid getting hit.

Well, almost.

It would've been enough time to avoid getting hit had I not slipped in the mud as I was sliding backwards on the balls of my feet. I fell forward and hit the ground palms first, then I flattened onto my stomach as the tree flattened my right hand.

You know what really sucks though?

I'm right handed.

I could feel my bones snap and crack due to the weight and force of the tree that had collapsed and landed on my hand. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before. _Well, these past couple of hours have just gone brilliantly, haven't they?_

Crying out for help, I struggled to release my hand, but it was of no use. I shouted louder, but the sound of rain and thunder seemed to be masking my voice to anyone who could've been nearby.

"Oh no!" I heard a squeaky female voice call out once I had given up on my cries. "It _does_ look like one of the trees fell down by getting struck by lightning!"

Another voice, again female, spoke up too. "That's what I figured... We can probably dig out the stump and plant something new in its place."

"Hey!" I cried out. "Don't forget about the person who's getting crushed by the tree!"

I rolled my head over to see who the two strangers were. One of them was a squirrel-girl whose pink fur was clearly visible even through the thick sheets of rain. The other was surprisingly a human girl. I couldn't make out most of her features, but her hair was dark blue and in a ponytail. They both ran over to me.

"Oh my gosh!" the squirrel exclaimed. "I didn't even see you there!"

"Thanks," I muttered sarcastically. "But you see me now, don't you? A little help would be nice..."

The blue-haired girl motioned for the squirrel to follow her lead. They worked together to try and roll the tree trunk off of my arm. It was no use. The trunk was simply too heavy, even for the both of them.

"I have an idea," the girl said, fishing through her pockets for something. She whipped out an axe. "Don't move."

"Wasn't planning on it..."

She lifted the axe high into the air and chopped the trunk inches away from where my hand was trapped underneath it. Then she swung again and again until it a completely split apart. She moved over to the other side of me and swung her axe again and again, creating another slice in the trunk. Now my hand was only trapped under a small log.

The girl pushed the log off of my right arm and stood up. "Isabelle did tell me there was a boy visiting... I guess that's you."

"Are you the mayor?" I suddenly asked, struggling to get to my feet. My right arm hurt unbelievably, but I tried not to think about it.

"Yes, I am," she said firmly. "And I do not take that title lightly."

Unable to bear it any longer, I looked down at my right arm and was horrified to find that I couldn't move it. It was a swollen, bloody mess, and there were definitely bones in places that they shouldn't be. Without getting too graphic, it was disgusting and it looked just as bad as it hurt.

"Look at his arm, Jade!" the squirrel exclaimed.

The human girl lifted my right arm, and I reeled in pain. She examined it closely and touched certain areas only to watch me shriek out in pain. "I'm no expert, but that definitely looks broken."

"It feels broken," I told her through my teeth as she poked it again. "Is there a doctor or somewhere I can go?"

The squirrel and the girl shared a glance before looking back at me. In her squeaky voice, the squirrel sadly answered, "No... We only rely on Nook's medicine." She turned to face the girl. "Maybe you can bring him to your house, Jade! It's nearby, and I can run to the store to get some medicine!"

"But I don't even know him!" she said, dropping my arm and backing away. "I don't want some strange boy in my house if I don't even know him!"

"Then let's get introduced," I said, wanting that medicine if it really would help heal my arm. "My name is...Dan, and I take it from what the squirrel said earlier that your name is Jade?"

The squirrel chimed in. "And I'm Peanut!"

I tried to give a friendly smile, but it turned into a grimace because of the pain in my arm. "Well, now we're introduced, so can I at least get that medicine now?"

Jade furrowed her brows. "Fine. You can come with me." She looked at the squirrel. "Peanut, you can run to the store and pick up some medicine and a fresh set of clothes."

As Peanut ran off, we began to walk to Jade's house, which wasn't too far off in the distance. She was silent the whole way there until I finally asked what time it was as we walked inside.

"8:03 am," she answered as she walked over to the fireplace.

It was the end of March and springtime was finally warming things up, but due to my shivering coldness and the rain, she turned the fireplace on anyway. When I looked at her again, I realized that she was also shivering and wet. It finally hit me that she didn't have an umbrella with her throughout our entire time in the rain.

"I'm going to go upstairs to change quickly," she told me. "Don't try anything funny."

What could I have really done? I had a broken arm, and I was probably coming down with hypothermia or something. The most that I could do was sit in front of the fireplace and look around the room.

And to be frank, the room was kind of...bland. I guess to some it may have looked nice, but I found it to be quite boring. She chose to use the "Classic" furniture set, which I had always considered to be pretty plain. It's not that I have a problem with themes, but she could have at least chosen something more interesting. In fact, her fireplace was the most interesting thing in the room.

Jade came down the stairs in a fresh set of clothing. Her dark blue hair was still neatly tied into a ponytail though. Her outfit was very business-like, and there was no mistaking the fact that she was the mayor. She wore the red business jacket from the HHA, a formal black skirt, long grey socks, and black loafers. I couldn't really tell you if it matched well or not, but she pulled the formal look off.

 _She's kinda cute,_ I thought to myself. _In a weird business-like way._

"Hopefully Peanut gets back soon," I said, breaking the awkward silence. "And hopefully this medicine actually works."

She nodded and sat down by the fireplace next to me. "I agree. We've already wasted a lot of time today, and I still have so many things to take care of."

"Didn't you just say that it was only a little after 8 am? You still have plenty of time to do whatever you want!" I almost wanted to laugh, but my arm hurt too bad.

She crossed her arms. "Excuse me! _I_ am the mayor! Who are you to tell me what I do and do not have time for? Being the mayor is an extremely difficult and time-consuming task, and I take it very seriously!"

"I can tell..." I muttered underneath my breath. I didn't mention the fact that I was the mayor of my old town and that I hardly did anything. Most of my days were spent goofing off and having fun! Well, until I ran into a little trouble with the law...

It was quiet except for the crackling of the fireplace. I guess Jade figured that she would try to break the silence, but it sounded a bit forced. "So why are you here, Dan?"

I leaned back a little bit. I already lied about my name; it shouldn't be too hard to lie about everything else. "Just thought I'd go on a little adventure! And, well, I ended up here."

Her brows furrowed, and I was worried she might get a bit too skeptical. If she found out that I was a criminal, "Miss Business" would surely turn me in! But she let my strange and sudden appearance to this town slide for now. However, she still had other questions.

"Why were you out during a storm?" she questioned.

This one was easy! I didn't even need to lie! "I got here really early in the morning, and I needed a place to stay, but since I'm just visiting, I don't have one. I didn't know that the storm was going to get so bad, so I just thought I'd take cover under that tree. But clearly...that didn't work out so well."

She not-so-subtly examined my face. At first I thought that she was boldly checking me out, but then I remembered all of the scratches and gunk that covered my beat-up face. I hoped that some of it at least washed off in the rain, so it didn't look too suspicious, but then I realized something. Because my little accident earlier, Jade probably just figured that all of the marks were from that!

There was a knock on the door, and Peanut entered the room. "Medicine and a fresh set of clothes!"

"Hopefully this works," I said as I stood up and grabbed the items with my good arm.

Jade stood up as well and brushed herself off. "I agree, but even if it doesn't, I'm afraid you'll have to leave my house. I have duties to take care of, and I can't leave you here by yourself."

"Can I at least go into a room to change real quick?" I asked her. Then the carefully balanced items in my hand all fell onto the floor. "Actually, I think I should take the medicine first..."

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 **First chapter down, many more to go! :) I hope you guys enjoy this story! I've never written anything for Animal Crossing before, so this is kind of exciting! Also, I usually have an entire story written before I start posting chapters, but I thought I'd just go for it this time.** **I do, however, still have an outline.**

 **Thanks for reading! :D I'd love it if you would follow/favorite/review!**

 **-TOW**

 **P.S. Remember to PM me if you can create a cover for this story!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Fresh Start

**Lol the Animal Crossing fandom isn't very big, is it? Oh well! Chapter 2! Enjoy! :)**

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Chapter 2: A Fresh Start

I opened the medicine bag to find a strange colored concoction in a bottle. "Am I supposed to drink that?"

"It doesn't taste as bad as it looks," Peanut reassured me with a squirrelly-smile.

Somehow I managed to pop the cap off with one hand, and I got a whiff of it. Oh boy, did it smell awful! _But it'll make my arm heal..._ I wish I had a hand that could plug my nose as I drank it, but I didn't, so I just had to tough it out and taste the weird syrupy medicine. The liquid felt strange going down my throat, and I gave an involuntary shudder.

Once I was finished chugging the medicine, I held the bottle in the air like I had just won I prize. "Whoo! I drank it!"

"See?" piped Peanut. "I told you it didn't taste as bad as it looked!"

"Oh no," I told her. "It tastes much worse, which is why I'm celebrating the fact that I actually managed to drink the thing."

The moment of truth! It was time to see whether or not the medicine had actually worked! I lifted my right arm. I tried to wiggle my fingers and move my wrist, but it still hurt really bad. The main damage seemed to be in the area around my wrist though, so the medicine definitely seemed to clear up the surrounding minor injuries.

"Well, my wrist is still swollen and it hurts a lot," I told the two girls in the room. "I'm thinking that it's broken. No ordinary medicine can fix that. You guys are certain that there is no doctor that can help me out?"

"There's Dr. Shrunk, but he's not a medical doctor," Jade commented.

I was acquainted with Shrunk. Yes, I was indeed. The two of us...didn't get along well to put it simply. My guess is that he's prancing around right now singing, "I knew that punk was secretly a criminal!" or something like that. The fact of the matter is that I had never actually even done anything bad to him! A lot of people in my old town didn't like me that much though.

Maybe this town would give me a fresh start...?

Who was I kidding?! I was only visiting, and even if I wasn't, I was sure to screw things up again eventually. Make people hate me. Get in trouble with the law again... It was bound to happen as long as I was, well, me.

But I wasn't _really_ me, was I? I was Dan now.

"Wait!" Peanut suddenly interrupted my train of thought. "Didn't Canberra say that she was trained to be a nurse or something?"

Jade nodded slowly. "Yeah... I think she's mentioned that to me before too. Well, go upstairs and get changed quickly, Dan. You're going to Canberra's to see if she can help you."

"Uh...okay." I picked my new clothing up off of the ground and went to her upstairs room. Not to my surprise, her upstairs room was just as boring as the downstairs room. The main difference was that this room's theme was blue. _Exciting..._

It hurt to take off my old clothing, and it was certainly quite the struggle, but I managed it. I wiggled my way into black track pants and slid into brown socks and black rain boots, but I would not and could not wear the shirt that Peanut picked out. Why would she even think that I would wear something like that?!

"Peanut!" I shouted as I ran down the stairs, holding the shirt in the air. "I cannot wear this!"

"Why not?" she asked innocently.

I waved the shirt around like a flag. "Um, hello?! It's _pink_!"

"You don't like pink?" Jade asked smugly.

"Don't like it? I _detest_ it!" I exclaimed loudly. "I wouldn't be caught dead in this shirt!"

Peanut giggled. "You're quite the drama queen, Dan!"

I narrowed my eyes and bore my teeth as if _I_ were an animal. "Drama queen?!" I was ready to fight someone, but I took a step back to calm down. It was just a shirt. No need to lose my temper. No need to do anything rash. I just needed to take a deep breath and let it go.

Jade walked over to a dresser and gestured for me to follow. "Here. You can borrow my _red_ HHA t-shirt for now."

"And you can have this pink thing to replace it," I said, trading off with her. "You are quite the proud member of the HHA, aren't you?"

She straightened her HHA blazer. "Of course I am. The HHA is quite the honor, and I have worked hard to have such a dignified spot in it. It's taken a long time, but my rooms are finally near-perfect. This jacket was worth 30 thousand points, all of which I rightfully deserve."

 _Pretentious much?_ I looked around her bland common room once more. "Well, in my opinion, your room is a bit boring."

"Well, you aren't a part of the HHA, so your opinion doesn't matter," she said, clearly taking some offense from my comment.

"You're right," I said, not feeling up to argue. "I'm just a nobody who doesn't even live in this town. A nobody with a broken wrist, so if you don't mind, I'm going to change my shirt real quick, and then we can go to Canberra's."

" _You_ can go to Canberra's," she told me. "I have-"

"Let me guess...duties?" I said, filling in the blank. I then began to take off my shirt (it was just a shirt after all), but Jade flipped out.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed. "Go somewhere else to change!"

I actually managed to laugh. "Relax. It's just my shirt. If you're really so bothered by it, close your eyes or look away."

She did a quick spin on her heels and faced the opposite wall. Her arms were crossed and her blue ponytail bobbed due to the sudden motion. I wanted to laugh at Miss Business's attitude, but couldn't bring myself to. My wrist hurt too much as I pulled off my shirt and put on her HHA t-shirt, which actually fit me. It felt nice to wear warm, dry clothes again.

"Done!" I told her and Peanut.

"Great," she said, lacking enthusiasm. She spun back around. "Now it's time for you to go to Canberra's."

I thought I'd at least try to be friendly. "You sure you don't wanna come? Take a break from your duties?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, thank you very much. Peanut do you want to go with him?"

The squirrel gave an apologetic smile. "Well, I was actually planning on trying to catch a fish for today's tournament..."

I shrugged. I was used to doing things on my own. "Alright. Well, I guess I'll be going now."

Jade nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, you will."

I exited the house and was pleased to find that the rain had cleared up. I could actually stay dry! Hooray! It was still cloudy, but I didn't mind. I pulled out my map and looked for the house that belonged to Canberra. She lived on the other side of this town, but I didn't mind. I just considered it an opportunity to take a nice, peaceful walk. It's been a while since I've done anything nice and peaceful.

Taking my time, I managed to make my way over to a small little house. Thankfully, she was actually inside at the moment. I knocked before entering. She seemed a bit surprised to see a new face, but I was a bit surprised to see a koala bear.

"Are you new?" she asked.

"Just visiting...I think," I answered honestly.

She raised her furry brows. "Oh! So you're considering to stay?"

I shrugged because I hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into it. I really didn't have anywhere better to go though. And as long as my criminal secret was kept to myself, I could stay here for a little while. Definitely until my wrist healed anyway.

"Yeah, I might stay," I told her with another shrug.

She nodded and gave a smile. "Well, my name's Canberra."

"I'm Dan," I said. I was still getting used to my new name. A sudden pain in my wrist reminded me of why I was here. "I was told that you trained to be a nurse, so could you, uh, take a look at my wrist? I think it my be broken."

"That's quite the first impression," she said with a laugh as I held out my arm.

Canberra lifted it up a little bit, and I flinched when she touched a sensitive area. She had me do several motions with my arms and asked me where it hurt the most. She explained that she wasn't trained to deal specifically with broken bones, but she knew enough to pretty much determine that my wrist was broken.

"I can't give you an x-ray or anything, but I'm certain that your wrist is broken," she told me. "The bones actually don't seem out of place though, so thankfully I won't have to set it. Did you do anything to fix that?"

I thought about it. I hadn't done anything for my wrist except take that medicine, and so I told her just that. She nodded and said, "Yep. That's Nook's miracle medicine for you. It set everything back into place, but it couldn't fix the bones themselves."

"So what do I do?" I asked her, hoping that we could actually do something.

"Continue taking the medicine for the next little while," Canberra answered. "That will help ease the pain. As for the actual wrist, it would be wise to give you a splint for the next week. After a week has gone by, then we'll put it in a cast."

"Do you even have a splint or a cast?" I asked with uncertainty.

A swore that I saw a twinkle in her eyes. "Actually, I do. It's in one of these drawers, so excuse me for a moment..." She ran to the back of the room and shuffled through a drawer until she pulled out a splint with an, "Aha!"

Situating my arm into that splint was not fun at all and hurt a lot. But I put on a brave face and tried to take it like a man. Canberra even told me that she was impressed with how well I handled myself. I thanked her for the medical attention that I so desperately needed and left her house.

Now I was really glad that it still wasn't raining otherwise my splint would've gotten wet. My stomach growled, and I fished around in my pockets to find that peach that I had stored there. I pulled it out and happily ate the fruit up, feeling much better. Now my wrist was on its way to heal, my hunger was satisfied, and I was actually feeling pretty good about myself.

None of the animals seemed to hate me yet, granted I had only met two of them and Isabelle, but it was still a nice change. Of course, the mayor didn't seem to think too much of me, but I was under the impression that she had never even taken a minute to relax.

But all-in-all, this town wasn't too bad. It was quite nice really. It was well kept and had many nice projects around. I could definitely get used to living here. And since I didn't have anything better to go, I decided once and for all that I would stay here until my wrist healed and I could figure something better out. Since I had no actual house to stay in, I guess that also meant that I needed to buy a home.

I made my way over to the shopping center and walked over to Nook's store. I briefly thought that it was kind of strange that this town had mostly the same shops as mine. I shrugged it off and figured that it was something probably similar to the Isabelle situation.

Tom Nook seemed pleased to have some business again. He was thrilled to hear that the town was getting another citizen and was ready for me to direct him to the place that my home should be built. I didn't know much about where a good location would be, but I pulled out my map and looked closely.

Somewhat smirking, I led him to a spot that was positioned upward and a little bit to the right of Mayor Jade's house. _What_ _a coincedince? Me? Next to her? How did that happen?_ Obviously, I'm being a bit sarcastic. I purposely picked a spot near her house, not just to annoy her, but because (from the little that I knew about her) she had probably picked a strategic location for her house.

And because I thought she was pretty.

My small little tent was set up, but I was grateful that I actually had a place to stay now. Not just underneath a tree. I wasn't super fond of the idea of having to build my house up again and starting all over, but it was better than being in jail, right?

I saw a tiger pass by, holding a fishing rod. I suddenly remembered Peanut mentioning a fishing tournament. I loved competing in those back in my old town, but I frowned when I realized that I didn't have a fishing rod and probably couldn't even fish with my stupid broken wrist.

A familiar blue-headed girl walked past me, not even giving me a second glance. I jogged over to her and tried to make conversation. "Guess who's not just visiting anymore? Guess who's moving in?!"

She blinked twice and continued walking toward a river. Even _she_ had a fishing pole with her. "You are?"

"Bingo!" I said, hoping to at least get a smile out of her. Her lips didn't even budge, and I decided that she was no fun. I continued my energetic enthusiasm though. "And we're going to be neighbors!"

She gave a groan. "Great. Now you can constantly distract me from my duties."

I rolled my eyes and tapped her fishing pole. "Duties? You're entering the fishing tournament! How is that one of your duties?"

Jade shook her head. "Nope. I'm not entering the tournament. I'm actually fishing to raise money for our latest public works project: a well."

"Well, well, well," I said jokingly. I didn't even get the slightest reaction to my pun. "You're just no fun, are you? Always about business, never about relaxation. You didn't even laugh at my pun!"

She tossed her line into the river as she spotted a fish. "Your pun wasn't very good. But I'd have you know that I do too have plenty of fun."

"Your 'duties' do not count as fun," I told her. "Why do you even have so many duties anyway?"

Jade looked at me as if it were a stupid question. "Because I'm the mayor."

I shook my head and adjusted my splint a little bit. "Yeah, but there's not really that much to do as the mayor. When I was the mayor-"

"You were a mayor?!" she exclaimed as if I were speaking blasphemies.

I just let it slide and laughed it off. "That hard to believe, huh? Yeah, in my old town, I was the mayor. I wasn't really supposed to be though. When I moved in they accidentally mistook me for the mayor, but I just went along with it. I never really took the job all that seriously. There wasn't much to do. Yeah, a public works project here and there, but it was never that big of a deal. I spent my days actually having fun."

Jade had completely forgotten about the fish, which at this point was long gone, and just stared off into the distance as if she were still trying to process my story. "You're being serious though? You were the mayor?"

"Of course!" I told her. "Would I lie to you?" But I actually had lied to her about a couple of things...

She finally pulled the fish-less line out of the water and walked along the river as I accompanied her. "I don't know. I don't know you. I don't really...know very much about humans at all actually."

It appeared that she was finally letting her guard down, allowing me to take this chance to get to know her a little. "You don't know much about humans? But you _are_ a human!"

"Well, yeah but..." she drifted away for a second. She snapped back to realty. "But you're only the third one that I've met."

"Third?!" I exclaimed. "Are you serious?! What about the time that you spent before coming to this town?"

"I don't have to tell you my life story!" she snapped quickly, putting her walls back up again. Then she managed to take down a few bricks. "But I guess you told me yours..." I almost wanted to laugh because I had hardly touched the brim of my life story.

Jade continued waking alongside the river, not even looking for a fishing spot anymore. "When I was a baby, maybe a few days old, I was left at the doorstep of the Town Hall. The mayor at the time was a friendly old turtle, and when he saw me, he couldn't just leave me stranded. So he took me in and raised me as his own. I would be the future mayor of this town.

"He was a lazy guy though, and I ended up taking care of most of his business anyway. Then one day, he...passed. It was a tough time for me, but I had to step up and take his place. That was two years ago. I've always taken the job as the mayor very seriously, and I care about this town a lot. It's my home."

I was touched by her story, even though I am definitely not an emotional guy. "That's very...considerate of you." I wasn't sure of what to say. "But you said that I'm the third human you've met. Who were the other two?"

"The first was a girl," she said. "I was pretty little then. I don't remember much. I know that she stayed for a few hours and had a look around, then she left. I don't even know her name. The other was a boy. He claimed to be the 'Prince' of his town. I'm not sure if he actually was, but as far as he was concerned, he was royalty. He was very handsome though. He visited about a year ago, but I certainly wouldn't mind if he visited again."

"So even though you're a business-obsessed mayor, you still had time to fawn over this guy?" I asked teasingly.

Her face reddened pretty quickly. "Don't judge me! I still did my job! I just thought that he was...a good-looking guy. It doesn't matter though. He's not here anymore."

"Right. Now you're stuck with me," I told her with a smile.

I finally managed to get a smile out of her. "Indeed. I'm stuck with you."

Her comment along with her stories made me realize that there was much more to this girl than a pretty face and a boring personality. I was certain that she had a fun side within her somewhere. Maybe it just took someone like me to bring it out. I just had to make sure not to screw things up and nearly get arrested again.

I decided to express my thoughts to her. "You know, Jade. I don't think you're as uptight as you're convincing yourself that you are. Maybe I was destined to come here to bring out the wild side in you."

She actually laughed, though it was full of mockery. "Destined? Are you serious?! I don't know what caused you to even consider that, but as the mayor, I don't have a 'wild side.'"

"Aww, come on! Sure you do!" I urged. "I was the mayor, and all I am is a wild animal!" I pointed to her blue hair. "Look! That's proof that you do have a wild side! Your hair is blue instead of some boring color."

She pointed to my hair in return. "And your hair is some boring brownish color, meaning that you're a wild animal that can be tamed!" She touched her ponytail. "But my hair isn't even supposed to be blue."

"Obviously."

"Would you let me finish?" she asked. Now we weren't even walking by the river. We were basically touring the town. "I went to change my hair a bit-"

"Because you were giving into your impulsive wild side," I could help but comment.

"Dan!" she said with some annoyance. "Anyway, when I went to change my hairstyle, I accidentally dyed my hair blue. She was asking me all of these weird questions, and I wasn't sure what any of it meant! But somehow I ended up with blue hair."

I looked at her hair and resisted the temptation to ruffle it. "But you never changed it though!"

Jade touched her hair again. "No...I never did... I actually kind of like it this way. It's-"

"The one exciting thing in your otherwise boring life?" I offered. I laughed, but she didn't find it too funny, so I had to say something to make up for it. "It does look nice though. I like it a lot."

She seemed to be taken aback by the compliment. "Thank you, Dan." She looked down at her black loafers. "Maybe you're actually right though. Maybe I did keep it just so that I could be a little bit more...'exciting,' as you put it."

I looked at her fishing pole and changed the subject. "So I guess you've given up on your project?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "In fact, I am on my way to find a good fishing spot right now!"

"Nah, you're entering the fishing tournament, and you're gonna win!"

"No, I am not! I am raising money for the-"

I rolled my eyes and cut her off. "You can do that later. You see, I don't have a fishing rod with me, and even if I did, I doubt that I could use it." I gestured to my splinted arm. "So that's why I need you to enter the competition on my behalf."

"Dan, that's just not very appropriate for the mayor to do," she said, shaking her head. "The duty of the mayor is to benefit the citizens of this town, not to win some shiny trophy."

I gave my biggest grin. "But you are benefitting the citizens of this town. You'd be benefitting me, and I am now officially a citizen. So unless you want to be a _bad mayor_ and ignore my request, I suggest that you participate in the tournament."

She groaned loudly, but I knew that I got her.

* * *

 **And that's all for chapter two! Thanks for reading! :D**

 **-TOW**

 **P.S. Still looking for a cover! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3: A Fishing Tourney

**And here's chapter 3!**

* * *

Chapter 3: A Fishing Tourney

"You really suck at fishing," I said as I sat criss-crossed and watched Jade let yet another fish go.

She briefly shot a glare at me. "It's not all that easy. And I don't have much practice!"

I shrugged and leaned forward to look for more fish in the water. "Well, it isn't my fault that you don't ever do anything fun, like fishing."

She groaned and tossed the line back in. "This isn't even fun though! Besides, it's not like I'm asking for your critism! I'd like to see you give it a try!"

I laughed as I shook my head. "I'd love to, but I think we both know that it just isn't possible with my broken wrist and all."

"DANG IT!" she suddenly exclaimed loudly. "The fish got away again!"

"Relax, Mayor," I told her with a smirk. "Getting frustrated like this just isn't very professional."

Jade quickly spun around, swinging the fishing pole as she did so. It hit her head, and after rubbing it gently, she gave me a piece of her mind. "Geez, Dan! You haven't even been here an entire day, and you're already getting on my nerves!" She let out a huff. "And I am determined to catch a fish even if it takes me the entire day!"

"Well, you've already wasted most of it..."

She ignored my comment and spun back around to cast the rod back into the water, but something strange happened. The rod didn't just fly out into the water like it was supposed to. It hardly budged at all.

"It's stuck!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. "When you spun around so quickly, the fishing rod must've gotten caught on the back of your jacket!"

Jade gasped loudly and frantically tried to pull the hook from out of her jacket. "Not my HHA jacket! I've worked so hard to get this! I can't ruin it!"

"Jade, stop!" I shouted. "If you keep squirming around and blindly grabbing the air like that, you're either going to get hurt or you'll rip your jacket even more!"

That was enough to make her freeze. She turned her head slowly and looked at me with big blue eyes. "So...what do I do?"

"Just carefully take your jacket off," I instructed. "And then you can try to unhook it."

Her face began to flush a little. "No! I can't do that! It's just not professional!"

"Professional?!" I exclaimed. "Who cares?! Do you want your precious HHA jacket or not? Just take it off!"

She blushed even harder and shook her head quickly. "I can't! I only have a tank top underneath my jacket and for you to see me in such a thing-"

"I'll turn around, okay?" I proved myself by actually turning around. Why was the girl being so stubborn? It was only a tank top after all. It's not like she was naked underneath.

"No peeking!" she ordered.

I rolled my eyes. What a strange girl... So obsessed with business and professionalism. I've never met anyone like her before. But I was still determined to bring out her wild and fun side before I had to leave. I knew she had one somewhere within her.

"OW!" she yelled, interrupting my thoughts. "IT HURTS!"

I turned around even though I promised not to. I couldn't just ignore her cries. I ran over to where she was sitting on the ground with her jacket in her lap. Squatting down, I asked what was wrong.

She rubbed her back where the fishing pole had gotten caught. "I carefully took the jacket off, but I think the hook might have actually cut me through my tank top. It's hurts pretty bad."

Jade lifted her hand from off of her back, and it was covered in fresh red blood. She gasped loudly and stared at her hand in horror. "I'm...bleeding..."

"Well, that is what happens when you get cut," I muttered quietly.

I walked around to take a good look at her back. The fishing pole had created a tear in her tank top and scraped her back up some too. It wasn't anything extremely deep, but the cut still wasn't very pretty.

I offered Jade my good (left) hand. "It's certainly nothing to sneeze at. Well, I guess we can both be injured now. Let's go to Canberra's to see if she can help you too."

Not surprisingly, the blue-haired girl did not accept my hand and struggled to stand up on her own. She clenched her HHA jacket firmly in one hand and the fishing pole in her other. Jade marched along without even giving me a second glance.

"Hey! Wait for me!" I shouted as I jogged over to her.

She didn't even look at me for a second. "Yeah, why should I? You looked at me when I told you not to!"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I was trying to help. Besides, it's just a tank top. That's no big deal. I know you're obessed with professionalism but-"

"I'm not obessed!" she interjected. She tried to straighten her jacket only to realize that her hands were full and she wasn't wearing one. "I just take the job of a mayor very seriously..." She sounded so dejected.

I shrugged it off then realized that we were quickly approaching Canberra's house. Once we got there, we looked at the note that was left on the door. Canberra wasn't home...

"So I guess we have to hunt her down before you bleed to death," I said, half-joking.

Jade stomped the fishing pole on the ground. "I'm not going to bleed to death, and there really is no reason for you to come along with me. I'm perfectly capable of doing this task on my own."

"You're really stubborn," I remarked quietly. "But if you really don't need my help, then I guess I'll just leave."

As I began to walk away, Jade whacked me with the fishing pole. "Wait! Don't go just yet!"

I rubbed the back of my head where she had just hit me. "Are you trying to kill me or something?! Do you want us both to get caught on this stupid fishing pole?! What do you want?!"

She stepped back a few feet. "I didn't mean to make you angry..."

"Well, that kinda happens when you whack people with a fishing pole!"

"I was just trying to get your attention." She looked away shyly. "I...changed my mind. I think it might be good if you came with me." Suddenly, she stood up straighter and became the tougher, order-obsessed girl that she was earlier. "Only because I think having another pair of eyes to look for Canberra could be useful though!"

I sighed and agreed. "Fine. It's not like I've got anything better to do. I mean, I've already wasted most of the day trying to catch one simple little fish." I looked up at the sky. "The sun is setting though, so let's try to do it quickly."

"That's exactly why you're coming with me. To make things go faster."

As we moved forward and looked around, I noticed several animals giving us strange looks. Unfortunately, none of those animals were Canberra. We did, however, run into the ever-chipper Peanut.

The squirrel smiled and ran up to us. "Are the rumors true?!"

"Rumors?" I asked quickly. "What are you talking about?"

She giggled and looked at us with an odd gleam in her eyes. "You two are the town's gossip! Everyone is talking about Mayor Jade and the new guy! So is it true? Are you really dating?!"

"Dating?!" Jade exclaimed loudly. "No! Of course not! I hardly know Dan! I just met him!"

Peanut giggled some more. "Well, yeah, but you two have been together _all_ day! All the animals think that the new guy is your boyfriend who's moving in with you!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I told her. "I'm not moving in with her! Did nobody see the tent? I'm building my own house!" A realization hit me, and I facepalmed with my left hand. "Oh crap! I just remembered that I owe Nook some money before I can build my house! I was going to get that paid, but I got distracted."

"You can pay it after we find Canberra," Jade explained. "Which reminds me...have you seen Canberra recently, Peanut?"

The squirrel took a second to think about it. "Actually, I have! I ran into her not too long ago, and she said she was going to the Able Sisters'. I bet if you hurry, she'll still be there."

"Thanks Peanut," Jade said with a smile. "Now come on, Dan! Let's go quickly!"

I sighed and ran alongside her as we made our way to Main Street. I began to grumble under my breath so she couldn't hear. "I thought I was only here to be an extra pair of eyes... Why am I still tagging along?"

"Oh good!" Jade called out as soon as we ran into the Able Sisters' shop. "You're still here, Canberra!"

The koala furrowed her bushy brows. "Yeah, I am. Is something wrong? Why are you dressed so informally?"

Jade looked down at her tank top then back to Canberra. "Well, it's kind of a long story..."

"No, it's not," I said under my breath.

Canberra gave a friendly smile. "Go for it!"

Jade rubbed her back where her cut was. "You see... I was out fishing, but I accidentally got the fishing rod caught on my back. It scratched me up and tore through my clothing."

"That wasn't all that long of a story," Canberra said with a laugh. "Now let me see the cut."

Jade turned around to show the koala her back. I saw all the pain that filled her face as Canberra touched it. I actually felt kinda bad for her. After all, I knew how painful injuries felt.

"Lucky for you, I always carry around my first aid kit," Canberra said as she pulled out some bandages. "The cut isn't too deep, so it shouldn't be too hard to treat."

"You carry around a first aid kit?" she asked. "I never knew that about you."

Canberra laughed as she helped Jade with her injury. "It doesn't hurt to be prepared!" She patted her back where it was now all bandaged up and ready to go. "There. That should be good enough. Take some medicine too though."

"Dan already took it today..." she grumbled. Then she gasped and looked back down at her tank top. "But I do need something else to wear! I can't go strolling around in this any longer!"

One of the Able Sisters (I never took the time to get to know them. They hated me, just like the other animals.) suddenly ran up to us. "Good thing this is a clothing store!"

"Most of these just aren't very professional looking though," Jade said as she examined the different shirts.

I picked up a tank and handed it to her. "It's another tank top, but this seems to be the most 'professional' thing here. Try it on. I'll turn around."

"Wow! The beaded tank looks so nice on you!" the Able Sister lady said, giving me my cue to turn back around.

I took a good long look at Jade. She really pulled the beaded tank off. "That looks really nice on you."

She met my eyes, and she even seemed to blush a little. "Thanks, Dan. It's not really my style, but it's better than that other thing I was wearing." She looked firmly at the Able Sister who was speaking moments earlier. "I'll take it!"

After a quick exchange of bells, Jade went over to the sister who was at the sewing machine. "Can you fix my HHA jacket and this old tank top, please?"

"Mayor Jade," that sister said with a sigh. Why was she talking? She never talked to me! "I'm afraid that I can't do that."

"You can't fix it?" she asked dejectedly.

"I'm so sorry," she answered. "I wish I could, but it would just look worse. Since we don't sell these items, we don't have the right materials to fix it."

Jade's face filled with obvious disappointment. "That's okay. Thanks anyway."

I actually felt kinda bad for the girl, which was strange. I don't usually sympathize with others, but for some reason I actually wanted to help Jade out. I could tell that jacket meant a lot to her. But I didn't know what to do or say without seeming too strange.

"Hey, um, Jade?" I felt so awkward. "Are you up for fishing some more?"

She sighed as she began to exit the store. "Well, it doesn't hurt to try. The day's almost over because I wasted it with you, so I might as well end it by wasting more time with you."

Her words made me feel guilty even though I hadn't really done anything wrong. Had I really made her waste her day? Did she really feel that upset? I was only trying to get her to have fun! I didn't realize...

"If you don't want to-"

"No, it's fine," she curtly cut me off. "It's my duty as mayor to make sure all of the residents in this town are satisfied, and if that means I have to catch a fish, I will."

We crossed over the railroad tracks, and I found myself staring at this strange woman. She really was a determined mayor. Even though she sucked at fishing, she was injured, and she didn't even like me, she was still willing to do what it took to help the citizens in her town. That's some dedication.

I must've been a really crappy mayor. The only time I ever thought about the other residents was when I thought about how much I hated them. I guess it's a good thing that I'm not there anymore.

"Do you think we can go down to the ocean?" Jade asked. "We've mainly been fishing along the rivers, and I think if we're by the shore, we might have better luck."

"Doesn't hurt to try," I told her nonchalantly. "Either way, you still suck at fishing."

When we reached the closest shore, Jade tossed her line in immediately. I tried to warn her that sudden and quick movements would scare away the fish, but she completely ignored me. So I just stood there and stared out at the sea as we waited for a fish swimming nearby to be lured into her trap.

"A really big one's trying to bite!" she suddenly exclaimed.

Apparently I had zoned out as I was staring into the distance, but I was still surprised at how quick a fish took the bait. "You're right! That is a big one! Remember what I told you earlier about how to-"

"I GOT IT!" Then with a strong tug on the pole, she ripped the fish straight out of the water. The girl who sucked at fishing finally caught a fish. And the fish was none other than...

"A Coelacanth in all its glory!" I blinked and rubbed my eyes because I couldn't believe it. "How did you catch _this_ when you suck so badly at fishing?! It's pretty rare!"

She held the slimy, rare fish away from her body, but a big smile filled her face. "I did it! I caught a fish! I caught a big fish! I bet I can win the tournament!"

"Let's go take it to Chip quick because you might be right about actually being able to win this tourney!"

...

Chip eyed our large fish suspiciously. "Did you really catch this, Jade? You never participate in the tourneys!"

"Of course I caught it!" she told him, extending her arms that held the fish. "Now take it before it dries out!"

Chip shook his head and pushed her arms back toward her body. "Look, today's competition was only for a Crucian Carp, Horse Mackerel, or Loach."

Jade looked down at her large and rare fish with disappointment. "Oh."

"Besides, that's a fish that you can only catch if it's raining, which it's not," he explained. But he wasn't just stating a fact; his words were full of accusation.

I stepped forward. "Are you accusing her of cheating? I saw her catch that fish with my very own two eyes! Maybe it got lost or something! I don't know! But-"

"Dan!" Jade cut me off. "It's fine. I'll just...release it back into the sea."

She ran off in the direction of the shore, and I realized something. Jade was actually pretty excited about this competition. Only now did I know this once I recognized her disappointment, but it was very clear that the tourney meant more to her than she wanted to admit. That's the real reason why she didn't quit earlier. That's why she was so excited when she finally caught something.

Because despite the act that she was putting on, she actually was having fun. She just didn't allow herself to show it very much.

But I saw through it.

"Chip, you idiot," I said in a low voice.

"What did you call me?" he asked defensively.

I clenched my good fist. "You heard me. You're an idiot! Jade was willing to give you such a rare fish, but you turned her down and upset her. Only an idiot would give up a deal like that."

"But the rules-"

"Rules have exceptions," I told him as threateningly as I could. "Would it have really hurt to accept her fish just this once so she could win and actually have something exciting happen in her otherwise boring life?"

He backed away from me nervously. "Look, man, maybe you should just talk to your girlfriend and-"

"Don't make assumptions about me!" I shouted. "That's the kind of thing that makes me angry." I bore my teeth like a wild animal. "And you don't want to see me angry."

He took another step back. "Right. Of course. I'm not trying to make you angry. I was just-" His eyes shot down and narrowed on my broken wrist. "Oh, I get it! You have a broken arm! So you can't actually do anything to me! You're just making empty threats!"

Out of nowhere, I swung my left fist and punched this guy's jaw, but it completely knocked him down. "It's not an empty threat if I still have a good arm."

I then looked around nervously. Had anyone seen me do that? Nope. This is the kind of behavior that gets people arrested to begin with. I sighed and tried to walk away from the scene of my crime. Maybe I should talk to Jade.

"Get back here!" Chip shouted as he rubbed his jaw and struggled to his feet. "I could get you in big trouble!"

I shouted back at him, "And I could get you in trouble if I let the authorities know about your little secret!"

"My secret!" He inhaled sharply. "You know about that?!"

Truthfully, I didn't, but I had always had the impression that there was some dirt on this guy. "Yep, and they will know about it if you breathe a word to anyone about your...accident."

I ran down to the ocean and found that Jade was still at the shore. She was sitting down and staring out to sea. The sun had finally set, and the moonlight gently brushed her features. It was true that I hardly knew the girl, but I couldn't deny that I found her to be attractive. Even if she was business-obsessed.

"Hey," I said quietly as I took a seat on the sand next to her.

"That fishing tourney was a waste of my time," she spat. "It was stupid and boring, and I wasted an entire day trying to catch one fish."

I sighed and debated about whether or not I should tell her about Chip's "accident". I decided to leave the details out. "Yeah, well Chip is kind of a jerk."

"It takes one to know one," she muttered.

I was surprised to find myself actually laughing at her comment. "I guess you're right. I'm not the nicest guy around."

She ran some of the sand through her fingers. "Is there something that you actually wanted, or did you just want to bother me some more?"

I leaned back slightly. "I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"Make sure...I'm okay?" she asked. "I don't understand."

I smiled and also began to play with the sand. "I can tell that despite how much you try to be 100 percent professional, you still enjoy having fun. And you actually _were_ having a lot of fun fishing. You were even looking forward to winning, but that idiot was a real stickler for the rules."

"So am I though," she pointed out. "But I don't mind. I didn't win fair and square."

"Yeah, whatever," I said sarcastically, brushing her comment to the side. "That doesn't change the fact that you are still disappointed. Nobody likes to lose."

"I didn't lose," she explained, crossing her arms. "I simply...didn't win."

"Whatever."

A moment of silence passed. A breeze ruffled my unruly brown hair and ran through Jade's neat, dark blue ponytail. I wanted to think that we were opposites. She was all about professionalism and duties and rules, and I wasn't. I was a little bit more wild by secretly being a runaway criminal mayor who never took anything seriously...and loses his temper easily over the stupidest things.

Yet in this moment, I couldn't help but feel like we weren't so different after all. I couldn't place my finger on the reason why either. I guess I just needed to continue to get to know her better.

"Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"I...didn't release that rare fish back out to sea."

"Okay."

"I...decided to hold on to it."

"Alright."

"And I..." She couldn't finish the statement. "Could you at least pretend to be interested in this conversation?"

I looked over at her, not realizing that it had come across that way. "I am interested! Go ahead and continue."

She pulled out the fish and suddenly tossed it into my lap. The gesture surprised me, and I yelped at the impact of such a slimy and gross creature touching me. But when I finally grasped onto the floppy fish, I looked back at Jade. She was refusing to make eye contact with me.

"I wanted to give it to you."

"What? Why? It's your rightful catch!"

She waved it off as if it were nothing. "I don't have any use for this fish if they can't accept it in the competition. So I thought that you might want it. You needed 10,000 bells for your house, and if this fish is really as rare as you say it is, it should be worth a lot of money."

"I still don't understand why you're giving this to me," I said, quietly accepting the gift.

Jade shrugged and stared out at the ocean. "It's been one heck of a first day for you, Dan. I figured that this was the least I could do. Think of it as a welcoming present from your mayor." Even though it was dark outside, I could tell that she was starting to blush. "And you might have been right after all. I did have a somewhat enjoyable time today."

 _Somewhat enjoyable._ I smiled as I realized that she was trying to tell me that she had fun. Mayor Jade of Nowhere Town. What a peculiar girl she was.

She cleared her throat and stood up, brushing herself off. "Well, it's getting late, so if you'll excuse me, I need to be heading back home. I suggest that you sell that fish immediately, so you can give Tom Nook your down payment. Unless you want to be sleeping in that tent longer than you need to anyway."

The fish was worth more bells than I needed.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Follow, favorite, and review! :) I'm still trying to find someone who can create a cover, so PM me if you can!**

 **-TOW**

 **P.S. What's a good anime to watch? (My profile states the ones that I've seen.)**


	4. Chapter 4: A Surprise Party

**Oh boy! It's been a while, huh? Sorry about that. Anyway, that last chapter was super cheesy, but in my defense, this is kind of a cheesy story lol. In other words, it's _all_ going to be pretty cheesy.**

* * *

Chapter 4: A Surprise Party

Well, I've lived in Nowhere Town for over a week now, and nothing too strange has happened since my first day here. I haven't had anyone suspect me of being a criminal or have had any cops come and chase me yet, so that's good. And because it looks like I'm going to be sticking around for a while, I decided that I would start working on my house.

Making bells to upgrade my house has been a little bit difficult because it's so hard to do anything with a broken wrist, but I've managed to get some money. I've also managed to get a decent amount of furniture, so now my house can at least look like someone's living in it. Although I must admit, a lot of those items I've smuggled from some of the other villagers.

Just kidding!

Sort of.

Apparently, if you're friendly to villagers, they'll give you presents and stuff. So I've been running errands for them, pretending to be their friend because it's the easiest way for me to obtain new furniture. Does that make me a bad person? Probably, but nobody seems to hate me yet. And that itself is not too bad.

Well...that's not entirely true. Chip hates me, but he doesn't count.

And there's also the mayor. I'm not sure what to think about Jade, or rather, what she thinks about me. I really wanted to get to know her better and bring out her fun side, but after the events of my first day, she has been kind of cold to me. Anytime I suggest doing something that seems fun, she always turns me down because "duties are calling." Wasting time with me once was enough for her I guess.

In other news, Canberra was able to finally give me a cast and said that my wrist is doing better. Although I'm still going to be trapped in this cast for a while, progress is progress regardless of how slow it is.

I think that pretty much sums up everything that's happened in my past week and a half of living here.

I walked outside of my house and felt the warm sunshine all over my face. It was only March 31st, but I was already looking forward to the summer. I've sort of been enjoying life here in Nowhere Town. It's been so carefree and nice. I really hoped that it could stay this way. But like always, I knew that I was bound to screw things up again eventually.

However, I was feeling oddly optimistic on this sunny day, and I didn't want to think about the dark future that lay ahead of me. I decided that I should start my day by enjoying the nice weather and just going for a carefree stroll.

It was weird to be so carefree, yet I had a gun in my pocket. I always carried it with me though.

I saw Mayor Jade frantically shuffling through her pockets nearby. She was always so composed, so when I saw her in this frazzled state, I was a bit surprised. I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. Although she didn't seem to ever want to talk to me, I decided that I should still try to help her out.

Help her out? When did I have the sudden interest in _helping_ people? If the animals in my old town heard that I wanted to help someone, they would've laughed and figured that I was doing it for my own personal gain. Although...when I helped the animals here in Nowhere Town, I really was still doing it for my own gain. Helping Jade was a bit different though.

Helping Jade. Enjoying sunshine. Feeling optimistic. Wanting to go for a stroll. Seriously? What had gotten into me?! Have I really changed that much in just a little over a week?

"Is something wrong, Jade?" I asked her as I approached her, pushing my thoughts to the back of my mind.

She shook her head quickly. "No. Of course not! What gives you that impression? I have everything in control, as always."

"Alright," I said slowly. "You just seem a little frazzled."

She narrowed her eyes. "If anyone is frazzled, it's you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have mayoral duties to attend to."

Jade began to walk off into the distance, but I wasn't going to let her slip away so easily this time. I grabbed her wrist with my left hand. "Don't you always have mayoral duties? It's the same excuse over and over. Why don't you-"

"Not today, Dan," she said curtly. "I don't have the time to deal with your silly suggestions today. If I waste my time fishing, then I'll just ruin things even more..."

"Even more?" I asked with surprise. "So you've actually ruined things?" I couldn't help but tease her. "You're the mayor, Jade! You can't just _ruin_ things!"

"I know!" she snapped. "Which is why I'm having this problem..."

"AHA!" I exclaimed loudly. "So you admit that there _is_ something wrong!"

"No. I'm admitting that there is a problem."

"That's the same thing."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll tell you if you really want to know, but you have to promise me not to bother me again, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," I agreed. That was a lie. Of course I was going to bother her again. Bothering people is my specialty. Besides, Jade was so strange, and she intrigued me because of that. I had to get to know her better. I had to bring out her wild side.

Jade took in a deep breath. "As the mayor, it is my duty to make sure all of the residents of this town are satisfied, as I'm sure you know. You did say you were a mayor before, right?"

"Right," I confirmed. Although that itself was the truth, I couldn't help but let a little lie slip out after that. "The residents in my old town were always satisfied."

"And so are the ones here," she said as she crossed her arms. She began to pace around nervously. "But I accidentally forgot about something very important."

When she didn't tell me anything more, I realized I needed to prompt the information out of her. "What was so important that you forgot?"

Jade froze in her tracks and looked me dead in the eyes with an extremely strained expression on her face. "I forgot all about Klaus's birthday!"

I immediately burst into a fit of laughter. She forgot someone's birthday?! That's not bad at all! In fact, I don't think that I've once even wished any animals in my old town a happy birthday. Who cares about them anyway? _Jade does apparently..._

"This isn't funny, Dan!" she shouted. "I'm in charge of planning Klaus's birthday party! Today is his birthday, and I have nothing planned! What am I supposed to do?! He's going to hate me for forgetting!"

"I've had animals hate me for much worse..." I muttered.

She held her head between her hands. "This is bad! This is really bad! It's too late to do anything extravagant!"

"Then do something simple," I suggested. "So he's actually expecting a party?"

"Of course he is!" she shouted in return. "I've always done a good job of throwing everyone an excellent birthday party!"

"And by excellent, I bet you mean totally boring," I remarked under my breath.

Jade rolled her eyes and let that comment slide. "I have to throw something together before it's too late and my reputation is ruined!"

"Look, you're getting worked up for nothing," I reassured her. I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Just calm down and breathe. It'll help you think more clearly. What time is the party supposed to be at?"

She roughly pushed my arms off of her shoulders, even the one that was in a cast. "That's the problem! I have absolutely nothing planned! Not even a time!"

"We can use that to our advantage," I said, getting an idea. "What if you threw Klaus a surprise party instead of the typical she-bang?"

This idea actually seemed to catch her attention. "That...might work! A surprise party! It's perfect! We just need to figure out the details and let the other animals know without Klaus hearing about it." She let out a small sigh. "He's just going to think I forgot about him for a little bit."

"Well, you kinda did."

"Shut it."

I smirked and looked over at the mayor. "So I guess this means that you need my help, right?"

"Well...the surprise party idea wasn't too bad, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to have your assistance," she admitted. "You seem to be a lot better at improvising than I am anyway. I like to have things planned out. I'm sort of a perfectionist."

"Trust me, I've noticed."

...

"So then it's all set," Jade said with a smile. "I'll go get the supplies and get everything all set up. You can go let the other animals know. Remember, Club LOL at 8!"

I nodded slowly. "I know. But why do I have to be the one to talk to the other animals?"

Her smile grew, and I detected some mischievousness behind it. "Because you're new. You need to get better acquainted with the animals."

"I already am acquainted with them," I said with a groan.

"Apparently not acquainted enough otherwise you wouldn't be complaining!" She began to laugh. A pretty sound. A rare sound. I wanted to hear her laugh more. I was even willing to talk to some dumb animals that I was pretending to be friends with if it meant that she was happy. Genuinely happy. Genuinely enjoying herself.

Jade brushed off her business jacket. It wasn't her HHA jacket, but it was good enough for now. "Alright. Good luck!"

She ran off in the other direction, but I couldn't refrain from calling out to her. "Good luck?! What's that supposed to mean?! Are you expecting me to screw things up?!"

"YES!" she shouted from in the distance.

The girl was getting to know me better than I thought. She clearly could see through my "friendly" facade with the animals and knew that I didn't enjoy talking with them all that much. She knew that I had a knack for screwing things up. But the fact that she actually was getting to know me better made me feel strange inside. No one in my old town cared that much to truly get to know me.

Still, I had to be careful. Clearly she knew how to read a person if she already knew that much about me. If I let anything about my true past slip around her, she would surely turn me into the authorities. I couldn't let her know about my criminal life. I was beginning to sort of enjoy myself in this town too. Even if I was faking friendship with the other residents, it was better than being hated.

For now.

I pulled out my map to gather a list of the residents in this town. Talking to Canberra and Peanut wouldn't be much of an issue because I genuinely was well acquainted with them, but my relationships with the other animals were so shallow that I was going to have to literally drag myself across the grass and dirt to talk to them.

A tiger named Rowan. A penguin named Gwen. A bird named Anchovy. A dog named Butch. There also was Klaus who was a bear, but of course I wouldn't be talking with him. Some of the animals might not be in their houses too, so I'll have to track them down.

I sighed and put down my map as I began my hunt for prey. The first animal I stumbled into who fell victim to my predator-like search was Gwen, the penguin. I attempted to give a friendly smile as I approached her, but it quickly turned into something more vicious and blood-thirsty.

Okay. So maybe I'm exaggerating it a little bit. Maybe I'm taking this whole "predator-prey" thing a bit too far. But that's what it felt like! Maybe it was just a force of habit from my days back in my old town, but tracking down animals was always a part of some greater scheme for something malicious and cruel.

I am an awful person.

"Hey, Dan!" Gwen said greeting me. "Do you like my new shirt? I bought it yesterday when I-"

"I don't care," I bluntly stated. After I said it, I realized that I shouldn't have. For the most part, I've done my best to pretend to be this "Nice Guy Dan." I may have totally screwed that up just now.

Gwen's eyes filled with shock, and she seemed to momentarily be at a loss for words. Eventually she found some. "Wow, Dan. That was oddly out of character for such a nice guy like you. I mean, you're always so willing to help me out and listen to me talk, it's a surprise to hear you say such a thing."

Now was not the time to tell her that I only helped her and listened to her because I was using her. In fact, I was probably never going to tell her that I was using her. Why? Because I liked using her, or rather, I liked the furniture and items I got from using her. In other words, I couldn't tell her the truth because I planned to continue doing what I do best.

Being an awful person.

So it was time to put on my fake smile and once more feign this shallow friendship. I even tried to laugh it off like it was nothing. "Oh! Sorry about that! It was awfully rude of me, wasn't it? I was thinking about something else!"

Gwen studied me for a second, as if she was trying to determine whether or not to believe me. Eventually, she just let it slide. "It's okay. Sometimes I space out too. Was there something you needed?"

I smiled as brightly as I could. "You see, tonight we're throwing a surprise party for Klaus!"

"A surprise party?!" She suddenly forgot about my strange behavior. "That's so much fun! I wish someone would throw me a surprise party on my birthday..."

...

I wiped a bead of sweat from off of my forehead and collapsed onto the grass from exhaustion. The party would be starting in 15 minutes, so I should probably be making my way over to Klaus's house to lure him into the trap. What I really mean by that is to lead him over to Club LOL.

But I was exhausted. I had to spread the word and track down all of the residents of this town. That in itself was a lot of work. On top of that, I had to feign cheerfulness and friendliness with all of them too, just like I had done with Gwen. It really drains you! And once that was all done, I somehow managed to get stopped by Anchovy, a bird, who had me run some errands for him.

I was totally exhausted. I didn't want to go get Klaus. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to the party. It's not like I was super thrilled about it to begin with. I was only doing it for Jade's sake.

Jade's sake. Why was I thinking about her sake? She is the strong and independent mayor of this town. Even if I didn't help her, she would have probably figured something else out on her own. Still, by helping her out, I was able to ease some of the pressure off of her, even if it totally wore me out.

For Jade's sake. I would continue to carry out my mission for her sake. I wasn't even going to deny it anymore. Something about that girl interested me. Something more than the fact that she was an attractive woman. There was something to her and her strange behavior that I just found so...fascinating.

I sighed and stood up off of the ground, brushing myself off with my good hand. I looked at what I was wearing. I was all dirty and sweaty and gross. There was no way I could show up to a party looking like this.

"You look so unprofessional!" Jade would say with a frown.

She would be all dressed up nicely like usual and would act too uptight for attending a party at Club LOL. But that's what she would do. She would wear her business jacket and maybe a special hairpin for the occasion because she wouldn't dare look anything less than professional Still, she would be all nice and neat and look so pretty while acting so...mayorish.

I blinked twice to snap myself out of my wild fantasy. Something was seriously wrong with me. I'd known the girl for about a week and a half, and I was already fantasizing about her. There was no mistaking it. I somehow must've managed to become infatuated with her. Really, it was no different than a high school crush. I mainly just thought she looked pretty.

But still...something deep within me genuinely wanted to get to know her better.

And now that I've finally admitted that to myself, it was time to get cleaned up as quickly as I could so I could lead Klaus to his surprise party. All of my clothes were in my dresser at my house, so I had to run over there as fast as my legs could possibly go.

When I walked inside, I noticed something laid out on my bed. It was some clothing with a note attached to it. A note from Jade.

"I hope you'll actually get this before the party. I figured that you would probably try to show up in jeans and a t-shirt, and if we were lucky, they might even be clean. I got this for you so you could wear it and not look like you're living on the streets. It's custom-made by the Able Sisters. Please wear this instead of your dumpy clothing. You can consider it a thank you present for helping me out. -Jade"

Her note was oddly unprofessional-sounding, but it definitely came from her. I was flattered that she had thought of me in advance. When I looked at the outfit, I realized that it must've cost quite the bit of money to get it all custom-made with such high quality material.

I put everything on as quickly as I could and examined myself in a mirror that one of my animal "friends" had given me. Not to my surprise, the suit and tie gave off a very business-like vibe. The slacks were nice and comfortable though and the shoes weren't as much of a pain as they looked. I was shocked at how such an outfit that looked so sharp could actually be this comfortable. If women's business attire was anything similar to this, maybe Jade actually wore her clothes out of comfort.

Nah. She was just an obsessive mayor.

I looked in the mirror one more time before rushing out the door. I had never dressed up so nicely before. I wanted to even say that I looked good, but my unruly brown hair was destroying that image. There was nothing I could do about that now. I sighed and ran out the door.

Running, I soon realized, was not the easiest thing to do in a suit. Regardless of that, I managed to make it to Klaus's house with five minutes remaining until we were supposed to be at Club LOL.

"Hey, Klaus!" I greeted excitedly as I barged straight into his house.

"What do you want?" he asked with a huff. "Are you here to also forget about my birthday?"

I tried to let out a light laugh. "Of course not, man! Why else would I be so dressed up? I'm taking you out to celebrate! Just the two of us buddies!" I cringed internally as I said that.

"R-really...?" he asked slowly. He tapped his paws together shyly. "You mean, you didn't forget about me?"

"Of course not!" I exclaimed loudly. "How could I?! And look at you, man! You're all dressed up in your birthday suit!" I felt the awkwardness in the room intensify at least 300 times before I could correct myself. "I mean, the suit that you're wearing for your birthday! How could you wear something so nice without going out to celebrate? Come on, _pal!_ "

Part of me was worried that I was laying it on a bit too thick.

Klaus went along with it anyway. "This is so nice of you, Dan! Everyone else forgot about me. Where are we going?"

"Hmm..." I thought aloud. "I haven't given it much thought, but maybe-"

"THE MUSEUM!" Klaus exclaimed. "I think I'd like to visit the exhibits!"

I furrowed my brows. No. That's not where I'm supposed to direct him. "Museums are overrated. Have you ever been to Club LOL before?"

"Of course," he answered. "Who hasn't?"

"Well, I haven't been there in _forever!_ " I told him. That was the truth. I hadn't been there in so long after I had gotten into a quarrel with Shrunk. We didn't get along very well, and needless to say, I was kicked out.

"We should visit Club LOL for _your_ birthday then," Klaus said. "Let's go to the museum tonight."

"NO!" I exclaimed loudly. "I really want to go to Club LOL tonight! Please! Let's just go!" My words didn't seem to phase him. "If we don't go to Club LOL, then I'm not going anywhere with you."

My words finally phased him. The bear's posture shrank and he gave in. "Fine. I'll go to Club LOL with you..."

"Good," I told him. "It'll be a lot of fun."

Klaus huffed and gave a frown. "No, it won't."

Although it felt as if I were practically shoving him there, Klaus made it to Club LOL with me bringing up the rear. Before opening the door, he looked back at me to give me one last glare, reminding me that he was only doing this grudgingly. I didn't do anything in return except wait for him to turn back around and open the door.

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted as loud as they could once Klaus had entered the club.

He jumped up about 10 feet in the air out of surprise before laughing loudly. "A surprise party? For me? I didn't expect this! I just thought everyone forgot!"

"Of course we didn't forget, Klaus!" Jade said, stepping forward. "It's your birthday! We wanted to make it special!"

 _So cheesy..._ I thought to myself as I heard Jade's little spiel while I looked around the club. There was K.K. DJing and streamers and balloons and presents and cake and other tasty-looking treats. For throwing it together in just a few hours, Jade did a pretty good job.

Klaus jumped right into the crowd and began to dance to the music. The other villagers joined him as they all bobbed their heads and wiggled their bodies. They looked ridiculous. And even though they looked ridiculous, they looked like they were having fun. When I thought about the fun they were having, I couldn't help but think about Miss No Fun herself. She wasn't dancing with the others.

"Hey, Dan," Jade said from behind me.

I spun around to face her and was stunned by the beautiful woman I saw. It was definitely Jade, but she looked so different. Her dark blue hair was out of its usual uptight, too-tight, high ponytail and was down to her shoulders and had a white flower pinned in it near one of her ears. The white flower matched her white dress with lace spaghetti straps and a sequined bodice. The skirt of the dress poofed out slightly and stopped about mid-thigh.

I'd never seen her legs before. She always wore socks or stockings or something that covered them up, but now she was so exposed. The same with her shoulders. They were so exposed. I'd seen them when she had been wearing her tank top, but this was very different. She looked stunning and I wasn't sure what to say.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You're kind of just staring off into space..."

I blinked twice and tried to get a hold of myself. "You look..."

"Ridiuclous," she said with a sigh. "I know. I was going to wear my usual, but when Peanut saw that I was giving you a nice suit, she insisted that I wear something flashy like this. It's totally not professional, but somehow I-"

"NO! YOU LOOK REALLY GOOD!" I blurted a little too loudly. My cheeks started to heat up and I cleared my throat as I tried to recover from that. "I didn't mean to say it like that, but I really was trying to tell you that I think you look really pretty."

It was hard to tell because of the lighting, but it seemed as though Jade's cheeks were reddening too. "Um, well, thanks. I wasn't expecting that. You look very handsome yourself, Dan."

We were complimenting each other like a couple of shy middle schoolers. What was with that? What was with us? Why did everything feel so strange and surreal right now?

"Well, your hair is still as messy as always," Jade commented, breaking the positivity.

"I didn't have the time to do anything special!" I snapped in return.

She pulled something out of her pocket and then started running her fingers through my hair. I was caught off guard, but I quickly realized that she was doing something to fix it. But the way her fingers were weaving their way through my hair was so soothing...

"I figured that you would forget," Jade said as she pretended to be my stylist. "So I asked Harriet from Shampoodle to give me some hair gel in advance." She put the gel container back in her pocket and nodded as she looked at me. "There. Now you're completely professional."

I had no idea what I looked like, but it seemed that Jade had just complimented me again. "Uh, thank you."

She smiled in a way that made me feel funny. "No. I should be thanking you, Dan. Because of your quick thinking, you saved my reputation as mayor and we could put together this party." She looked down at her feet. "I couldn't have done it without you..."

"For this next song, I'd like to slow things down and play it acoustic," K.K. Slider said through the microphone.

The soft strum of his acoustic guitar gave me the sudden urge to sway with the song. I wasn't one for dancing or slow songs or slow dancing or any of that, but I knew that this was my chance. This was my one and only chance. I admitted to myself earlier that I might be developing what could be considered "feelings" for Jade, so this was my chance to act quickly and ask her to dance with me.

"Jade?" I asked somewhat nervously.

"Yeah?" she responded, almost seeming a bit nervous herself. She was anticipating what I was going to ask her. She was waiting for me to ask her to dance.

"Would you-" I cut myself off and chickened out. "Do you go here a lot to dance, Jade?"

The mayor didn't meet my eyes for one reason or another. "Well...no. Not really. And I've never participated in a slow dance here before."

"Jade?" I asked once more, trying to muster up the courage.

She looked me in the eyes this time. Her eyes themselves were already dancing with excitement. Was it possible that she actually _wanted_ me to ask her to dance? Was it too presumptuous for me to think so?

"You can continue on, Dan," Jade urged with a shy smile.

My heart was beating quickly and my hands felt sort of clammy. "Well, um, I'm not very good at this, but would you like-"

"Hey Jade!" Klaus exclaimed running over and interrupting us. "Since today's my birthday and you're the mayor, I thought it would only be appropriate for me to have this dance with you!"

"This is oddly out of character for you..." she muttered under her breath. "Well, if you insist, I'd be glad to have this dance with you, Klaus."

My heart snapped in two like a twig crunching beneath the feet of a bear. A bear named Klaus. A bear whose party I planned all day long. A bear who should be grateful for what I've done. A bear who stole the woman I was talking to away from me.

Jade. As she swayed with Klaus in time with the music, I accidentally made eye contact with her once. She had an apologetic look on her face, but I ignored it and glared at her anyway. So what if it was Klaus's birthday?! I was in the middle of asking Jade to dance and he stole her away from me! _I_ should be the one dancing with her!

I crossed my arms and walked over to the pile of presents. I decided that I needed to leave something for Klaus too. As I fumbled around in my pockets to find some stationary to at least write a note on, my hand bumped into my gun. My gun.

 _Bang!_ With just one shot I could shoot Klaus and knock him dead. Literally. But I couldn't do that. That would ruin everything. So I settled for writing him a special little note instead.

"Dear Klaus, I know that it's your birthday, but that was still a jerk move. Whether you're aware of it or note, Jade was about to dance with me and you took her away. Because of that, we are now officially enemies. Sincerely, Dan"

I looked at the note and read through it once before shredding it to pieces. Why did it sound so formal? It's not like it was a business letter or anything! I started over and left this one on the table as it was.

"I'm coming for you when you least expect it. Eventually."

* * *

 **Wow! Dan is definitely the jealous type lol. Thanks for reading!**

 **-TOW**


	5. Chapter 5: A Sick Day

**Yikes! It's been a little while! But it's officially Spring Break now, so I thought I'd kick it off with another chapter. :)**

* * *

Chapter 5: A Sick Day

"If the HHA doesn't appreciate all the hard work I've put into my house, I'll beat them until they give me more points," I said as I placed a chair down.

I'm not sure exactly why I suddenly care about what the HHA thinks, but I've tried really hard lately to make my house look nice. Back in my old town, I didn't care about my house at all. Here in Nowhere Town so many things are different though. Perhaps it was Jade's hardworking self that inspired me to put a little more effort into the things that I do.

In any case, I was in the process of giving my house a theme by collecting and arranging the furniture that matched it. The HHA likes themes right? And rare items? I've eaten more fortune cookies than I can count trying to get rare items to put in my house. That being said, out of all those cookies I've eaten, only three of them had prizes inside.

I know I usually have bad luck, but that's just ridiculous! I swear those little Nookling punks already hate me. No matter! I hate them too!

I sighed, and after taking one more good look at my room, I left my house to go outside. Mayor Jade's house was next to mine, and quickly walking past it, I didn't notice anything strange at first. Then I looked up and saw...

"Smoke?" I asked aloud. "She's in her house? That's surprising. She's always out and about. Maybe she just had to stop by real quick..."

I tried to continue on past her house to my destination of who knows where, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was curious. Something about Jade chilling in her house didn't seem right to me. I doubted that she was just chilling in there anyway, so I couldn't help but let my curiosity and wild imagination take over.

I lightly knocked on the door. There was no answer. Furrowing my brows, I slowly opened the door to her house and walked inside. I was slightly worried that she was in the middle of changing clothes because if she was, I would've gotten chewed out so bad.

When I looked around the room, I noticed that she was nowhere to be seen. Everything was still in place like usual so...maybe she was upstairs? After one last check around the room, I ran upstairs to see if Jade was there. This time when I scanned the room, I didn't see anything out of place at first, but I eventually noticed a peculiar looking lump lying on a bed.

"Jade?" I asked, walking over to her bed. "Is that you?"

She let out a small grunt and shuffled a little bit as she changed her positioning to where I could now see her face. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be a sleep. Well, mostly asleep anyway. The mayor was always awake before me, so why was she still in bed? In my little over two weeks of being here, I've never once seen her oversleep.

I looked at the clock in the room. "It's past ten o'clock. You overslept big time."

"No I didn't..." she mumbled as she changed her positioning once more.

She was kinda cute when she was sleepy. I couldn't help but think that. She was all groggy and stuff, and it was oddly cute. I was internally kicking myself for having those thoughts. _I'm a tough guy! I don't just find people "cute!"_ She tossed and turned a little more, and it brought a smile to my face for some reason. Even a tough guy like me couldn't deny how cute she looked.

"Jade, what about your mayoral duties?" I asked. "If the villagers find out that their mayor overslept, they'll be very disappointed."

That was enough to wake her up. Her eyes shot wide open and she kicked her bedding off of her. She sat straight up and looked around the room frantically. "I overslept?! How?!"

I looked at what she was wearing. "You sleep in your work clothes? Blazer and everything?"

"What?" Then she looked at her apparel too. "Oh! No! I just had a late night last night and was too tired to change out of it."

"A late night, huh?" I asked suddenly beginning to understand. "I get it. You overworked yourself and your body is trying to compensate for that by getting extra sleep."

Jade stood up defiantly and began to stagger over to a nearby dresser. "Well, my body doesn't understand that it isn't technically possible to catch up on sleep."

She suddenly collapsed onto the floor. I ran over to her side to make sure she was okay. Without even giving me a second glance she began to pick herself up again. She stood up with her knees wobbling but was determined to keep going. Jade pulled a few clothing items out of her dresser before nearly collapsing again. She managed to catch herself by holding onto the dresser.

But dresser began to wobble due to her weight! I saw that it was about to fall, but Jade didn't seem to have any clue what was going on. It was as if she was a walking zombie! It began to tip forward, and I quickly grabbed her arm with my good one and pulled her toward me before the dresser could collapse.

As the dresser crashed onto the ground, Jade fell on top of me. With her body right on mine, I could distinctly tell that something was wrong. Her face was super flushed, and she was covered in sweat. Her breathing was shaky and uneven. Something was seriously wrong with her. Why else would she have started collapsing to begin with?

I moved my hand to feel her forehead, which was inches away from mine. "Jade, you're burning up. I think that you're sick."

One of the dead giveaways that she was not her usual self was the fact that her body was on top of mine, and she didn't even seem to care or notice. "I'm not sick. I have duties. I can't be sick."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, raising a brow. "You're in no condition to work. But if you really think that you can, you can prove it by getting off of me."

Jade groggily tried to pick herself up but quickly collapsed and fell down on me once more. Our faces were so close to each other that they almost touched. Her body was directly on mine. My heart was beating faster than I knew it even could. This situation was so strange and clearly she couldn't do a thing about it, so that meant that I had to.

I pushed her off of me as gently as I could. "Look, you can't even support your own weight. Just take the day off."

"NO!" she shouted loudly. "I've never once taken a day off! I just can't do that! No! No! No! The people in this town need me!"

"Can you hear yourself talking?" I asked her as I tried to pick her up. "You're not thinking clearly at all. You're in no state to do anything productive."

I finally managed to scoop her into my arms and she began to squirm around. "Dan! DAN! What are you doing?! Put me down! PUT ME DOWN! I AM THE MAYOR!"

I carried the poor girl over to her bed and set her down gently. "There. Just get some more rest. It's okay, Jade. Everyone needs a day off occasionally. Even you."

"NO!" she screamed. "No! No! NO!"

"You're acting like a five year old child," I told her firmly. "Normal Jade would never do something so unprofessional. Your behavior alone is enough to confirm to me the fact that you are definitely sick."

"DAN!" she exclaimed. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! I'M THE MAYOR!"

Although she was screaming loudly and thrashing herself about wildly, Jade was clearly not going to get out of her bed. She just didn't have the energy or strength to support herself. She was the definition of a bedridden person whether she liked it or not. In fact, she probably couldn't even sit up anymore.

"I'll go and get some medicine for you to feel better, okay?" I backed away from the mayor who was practically in tears because she was so hysterical.

She finally stopped thrashing around and laid on top of her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had calmed down a little. "Okay...fine."

I felt like I was her mother or something. "Good. Now stay there, and I'll be right back."

"Okay," she said in a quiet, defeated tone. Much louder she suddenly exclaimed, "I'm really hot!"

"I don't doubt it," I told her. "When I felt your forehead, you were burning up. The medicine should help get rid of your fever though. Until then, you should probably change into clothing that's much lighter than your business clothes." I looked at how miserable she was as she laid on her bed. "Well, if you can change anyway..."

Finally, I was able to leave her house and head over to Main Street to buy some medicine. When I first saw sleepy Jade, I thought that she was kind of cute. Once she turned into hysterical Jade, I realized that she was actually a monster. She was nothing like her usual self. I said that I wanted to bring out her wild side, but this was definitely not what I meant.

I paid for the medicine and rushed out of the store. I needed to get to Jade's house quickly before she did something irrational and injured herself or made her condition worse.

Without even knocking, I entered her house and ran up the stairs. I jumped back in surprise with a small yelp when I saw Jade this time. The uber-professional mayor of Nowhere Town was lying on the middle of the floor wearing nothing but a sports bra and shorts. If this were normal Jade, I'd be a dead man for seeing her like this.

I couldn't look at her without feeling guilty. "I brought some, uh, medicine."

"Oh, good," she said as she laid in the middle of the floor. "Bring it over here."

"You're, um, hardly wearing any clothes," I noted awkwardly.

Jade sighed and managed to sit up on her own. "I'm just really hot, okay? Do you have a problem with it?!"

"N-no," I answered carefully. "Do you?"

She balled her hands into fists and furrowed her brows. "No! I'm hot and I wanted to cool down! Are you gonna bring over the medicine or not?"

I'd never heard her talk like this before. I'd never seen her wear anything like this before. I'd never watched her act like this before. It was as if I was dealing with an entirely different person. Sick Jade was like no one I'd ever met. She was terrifying. And if _I_ was scared, that was saying something.

"Here," I said, handing her the package.

She ripped it open and pulled out the bottle. Without a second thought, she quickly chugged the medicine and made a face. "That was disgusting!"

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

Jade began to sit up a little bit taller now. "Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Normal people have sick days, right?"

"Yep."

"So I wouldn't be a bad mayor if I took one?"

"Nope."

She stared blankly at a wall before for a moment continuing to speak. The medicine seemed to calm her down at least. "I still have duties to take care of. Do you think you can fill in for me, Dan?"

"You want me to fill in for you?" I asked in surprise. "Are you sure about that?"

She nodded as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. "Yeah. You're the only one I trust to do it."

Now that really took me by surprise. "You trust me? Why? I'm still fairly new!"

Jade let out a big yawn. "Yeah, well, you've helped me out before. And you said yourself that you were the mayor of your old town. You're the only person capable of taking my place."

"Um, well, about that..." I said trailing off. "I wasn't exactly the best mayor of my old town."

I'm not sure if it was the medicine or what, but Jade seemed to be getting really sleepy. She appeared to be only half-awake at the moment. "Then be a better mayor today. Come on, Dan. You're the only person I trust to do this."

"I-I don't know," I answered honestly. "Maybe you shouldn't trust me so much."

Jade let out a light laugh, and I could tell that she was definitely drowsy enough now that she was basically drunk. She patted the ground next to where she was sitting as a signal that I should take a seat next to her. Warily, I did so, and I silently worried what drunk Jade was going to do.

"Dan," she said, grabbing my good arm and looking me in the eyes. "You may pretend to be an apathetic jerk, but I can tell that you care about this town. As much as you may want to deny it, I know that you're secretly enjoying yourself here. I don't know what your life was like before, but I do know that you like the peaceful lifestyle you're living here. And though you haven't lived here for long, you've come to appreciate the town and all the villagers living in it."

"That's not true," I told her firmly. "I don't care at all about any of the villagers!"

"But you're always helping them!" she argued, releasing my arm.

"That's because I'm using them to get furniture and stuff!" I countered.

Jade shook her head and smiled like a drunkard. "You say that, and maybe you don't even realize it yourself, but you actually like helping them out. That's why I trust you to do this job."

I scooted away from her a little. "Nope! Nope! I'm not doing it! I can't do it! There was a reason I quit being the mayor of my old town!"

"But Dan!" she whined, crawling toward me. Her actions, tone of voice, and the fact that she was hardly wearing any clothes made it appear to be a very seductive scene. She moved in closer to me so we were only inches away. When she spoke again I could feel her breath.

"Does my trust not mean anything to you?" She reached out and lightly touched my cheek.

I jumped back as quick as I could, which caused Jade to fall flat on her face. "Who are you and what have you done with the mayor?! She would never do such seductive things!"

Jade giggled and grabbed my right arm, which was in a cast, and pulled me down on the ground again. "I'm not trying to seduce you, silly! I'm trying to get you to fill in for me!" She moved in close again. "And I'll use any method I know to get the job done."

My face heated up, and I was uncomfortable with the position that we were in. Okay, so maybe I had feelings for Jade. Sure, I had come to accept that. But it was nothing more than a passing crush. And I certainly didn't want to turn it into a passing _fling_. And with the way she was acting now, I just didn't feel right about being with her. I may be a criminal, but I am not the kind of man to take advantage of a girl who was in such a sickly delirious state.

"Fine!" I exclaimed, pushing her away from me. I stood up and briskly brushed myself off. "I'll take your place as mayor. But you have to promise you will stay here and not do anything stupid, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, rubbing one of her eyes. She appeared as if she was about to fall asleep again. "Thanks, Dan."

"Alright," I told her. "I'm leaving now."

"WAIT!" Jade suddenly exclaimed.

I froze in my tracks. Did I really want to hear anything else this delirious woman had to say? I sighed and turned around to face her. She was sitting criss-crossed in the middle of the floor with a goofy smile on her face.

"You're a good friend, Dan," she said quietly. "The animals here are nice, but they're nothing like you. You're special. I-" She cut herself off and looked down at the floor. "I'm glad that you moved here."

After all the crazy things she said earlier, this actually seemed to be fairly genuine and heartfelt. It made me feel strange inside and oddly happy. I gave her a soft smile in return. "I'm glad I moved here too."

Then I ran out the door before that crazy woman could stop me again. My heart was beating quickly. Jade, sick or not, told me that she trusted me. She even called me her friend! No one's ever said that to me before... I've never had anyone genuinely _like_ me.

Who was I kidding? She was half-asleep and awfully sick. And she was on that medicine, which seemed to have totally drugged her and made her act even weirder. She couldn't be held responsible for anything that she did or said. It just wasn't fair. Whether any of those things were true or not, she wasn't thinking when she spoke.

I marched over to the Town Hall and greeted Isabelle. "Um, hey, so Jade is taking the day off and she told me to fill in for her."

"She wants _you_ to fill in for her?" Isabelle asked with surprise. Even this dog, who was bubbly and friendly beyond belief, couldn't believe that Jade wanted me to fill in.

"Uh, yeah," I answered. "She's extremely ill right now. I already brought her medicine, but she's in no condition to work, so now I'm taking her place. What do I need to do?"

Isabelle placed a paw on her chin as she thought about it. "Well, we just finished a Public Works Project, and Mayor Jade was planning on starting a new one and raising the money for it today. Do you think you can manage that?"

"Sure," I told her. "What are we building?"

"The mayor was trying to decide between another bridge, a fountain, or a scarecrow," she told me in response.

"Do you remember when I first moved here, and I requested a campsite?" I asked her suddenly.

Isabelle nodded and flipped open a folder filled with all sorts of papers. "Yep! I have it documented right here! Mayor Jade wasn't overly fond of the idea, but I still have it listed as a possibility."

"We'll build that," I told her.

"But, Dan-"

"I'm filling in for Jade, and I think this would be best for the town," I firmly stated. "As temporary mayor of this town, I'm issuing the order to build a campsite."

"Well...okay," Isabelle answered with slight hesitation. "Show me the spot where you want it to be built."

I grinned and walked out of the Town Hall with the dog close behind. I wasn't supposed to ever move here. I only wanted to spend the night. Now that I was officially living here, I couldn't do anything about my circumstances anymore, but I could possibly change that for someone else. If any animal (or person) needed to spend just a single night, I was now going to be giving them that opportunity.

I was actually doing something to genuinely help others.

How strange.

Maybe Jade was right. Maybe I actually did like helping people out. Maybe I was just using the excuse "to get furniture" when I helped the animals in this town.

No. That's not possible. I'm a criminal! I hate all these stupid animals. I hate this stupid town. I lied to Jade when I told her that I was glad I came here. Life here was boring. The only good thing about it was that the mayor was attractive. Right? That's the only reason why I wanted to stick around? Because I liked Jade?

I pushed my thoughts aside when I found a spot near the train tracks that seemed to be the most appropriate for a campsite.

"We'll build it here," I ordered firmly. I wouldn't allow myself to become soft.

Isabelle gave an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid the spot that you've chosen is too close to the train tracks. Maybe you could move it somewhere else?"

"Nope," I told her. "You're building it here! Right here! I don't care what means you have to use to make it possible, but we're building the campsite right next to the train tracks."

"Dan, maybe we should just wait for Jade to-"

"Build it here! Even if it means someone is going to get run over by the train, we are building it here!"

Isabelle stared at me blankly for a few moments. "You have a strange sense of humor, Dan." She looked over at the tracks then back to the spot that I had chosen. "Well, I guess we can figure something out if building the campsite right here really means that much to you."

"It would mean the world to me," I said.

But I was lying. I didn't care _where_ the stupid campsite was built. I just wanted it to actually be built. It was as if I were reassuring to myself that I was still able to maintain dominance over those around me. I needed to make sure I wasn't getting too soft by living such a comfortable lifestyle here.

"So that's one thing off of Jade's list, what else do we have to do? It can't be _that_ bad!"

It was.

I've never worked so hard in my life. How did Jade find the time to do so much? Helping people? Raising money? Organizing? Signing papers? Approving petitions? I was doing things that were surely not even in the mayor's job description. Maintaining the proper balance of flowers and trees? There was no way that I was supposed to do that in my previous town!

And then all too quickly, the day was over. I was exhausted. I was ready to hit the sticks, but I needed to check in with Jade first.

I knocked quietly on the mayor's door in case she was sleeping. She shouted, "Come in!" and I entered cautiously. What was she going to act like this time?

But when I stepped inside, I saw her standing in the middle of the living room, re-organizing her furniture. Her face was a little paler than usual and she had bags under her eyes, but she was dressed in her usual business attire. She seemed to be mostly normal. A huge turn-around from what she was earlier.

"Are you sure it's okay to be reorganizing your furniture while you're sick? Aren't you worried about overworking yourself again?" I asked her.

Jade rolled her eyes and pushed one of her sofas against the wall. "I feel perfectly fine. I've been resting in bed all day, and I didn't want the day to completely go to waste. I thought that now that I'm feeling better I ought to do something productive."

I smiled. _There she is. There's the mayor I know._ She really did make a huge recovery throughout the course of the day.

"You're sure that you're feeling better though? You were acting really strange earlier!"

She brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and looked over at me. "Are you doubting my own self-judgment?"

"No!" I exclaimed before she could snap at me. "Well, sort of. I mean, I'm only worried because you were totally out of it this morning!"

"Worried?" she questioned. "I had you worried?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Well, I'd be worried about anyone who was trying to throw themselves at me while they were half-naked!"

"WHAT?!" Jade shouted loudly. "I did not do that! The actions of a mayor should never reflect something that indecent!"

"Maybe they shouldn't, but they did," I told her. "You were like an insane woman, begging and pleading and throwing yourself at me until I agreed to fill in for you."

"That's not true! I only politely asked you if you could step in for the day."

"I wish that were the case, but I promise that you were acting like an entirely different person. You were extremely delirious."

Jade scowled and crossed her arms. "I still don't believe you, Dan. I have no recollection of any strange events occurring." Her gaze softened slightly as she brushed off the bottom of her skirt. "However, I am grateful that you did step in for me today. And I am also grateful that you were kind enough to bring me some medicine."

Kind?! She thought I was kind?! Oh no! She had the wrong idea!

I glared daggers at her. "That was a one time deal! I didn't do it out of kindness either! You owe me! I do not work for free!"

Jade yawned and stretched out her arms. "Regardless, I am still grateful for your actions. Thank you, Dan."

I froze for a moment in slight shock. I wasn't very used to people thanking me for things. What should I say? What should I do?

I just brushed it aside. "Whatever. You're better now though, so you should go back to work tomorrow."

"Of course. Any other action would be-"

"Unproffessional," I completed. I rolled my eyes and began to back out of her house. "Just get some rest so that you really do make a full recover. You're not allowed to take any more sick days, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed with a small smile. After an awkward moment's silence, she said in a small voice, "Regardless of how you may act sometimes, you're actually a really good person, Dan."

I walked out and slammed the door without saying anything else. I was not a good person! I am a criminal! Jade just doesn't know that. And she doesn't need to know that because if she did know that...

My cheeks felt warm. Would she ever call me a good person again? It was such an awkward compliment. And for some reason, it made me feel warm.

Maybe I was getting a fever too.

* * *

 **This was kind of an odd chapter, but hopefully you guys still enjoyed it! :) Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you're feeling up to it too! ;)**

 **-TOW**


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